Making Liberian-style Palm Butter in Pictures

I wrote this blog when I was in Monrovia, Liberia in 2012. Liberia has been on my mind often these past few months and so I wish I could write something that does justice to the capacity for optimism, mind boggling survival instincts,  and  tenacious swagger that Liberia embody to me. Sadly, my writing can never bring that to life so instead I will instead share with you my favorite experience with Liberian cuisine.

My favorite dish in Monrovia was palm butter chicken. Palm butter is a rich creamy sauce that you make from palm fruit (the same fruit from which you extract palm oil.) The sauce is thick like curry and eat it with rice. The sauce works with all kinds of meats, but chicken worked with it particularly well.

Palm Fruit

During our final week in Monrovia (June 2012), my friend suggested we try to learn how to make palm butter ourselves. Little did I know the dish would take 3 people 7 hours to make. It was totally worth it.

The poor soul who agreed to teach us was Sara, one of the most patient and hard working people on the planet.

The Shopping

We started our day by heading to the glorious Maggi market where “every woman is a star” to buy our fresh ingredients.

Entering “Maggi” Market where the magic happens

We were hunting for chicken, onions, palm, spices, coal and chilies.

Mission accomplished. We got it all onions, tomato paste, toxic looking random substances, okra, re-portioned spices and then of course we hit the family planning clinic at the market. I have to say whoever decided to locate a clinic at Maggi market understood their target population. So kudos to you…

Buying chicken and Onions. Notice how chicken is stored and presented.

Finally buying our palm

Local Delicacies

 

After a very successful shopping trip we headed home to make the magic happen.

The Magic

I’m just going to let the pictures do the talking here,  but the gist of it is we took turns churning palm while the others prepped and cooked the chicken, rice and other vegetables. My money says churning palm is going to be a future fitness fad. Remember you heard it here first.

Washing The Palm

Our Drainage system

Lighting our cooking fire

Chopping chilly peppers

Palm Churning (40-45mins in)

Palm Churning 90 minutes in

The Water Supply

The churning continues

Chilly churning time!

Meanwhile, someone needed to “wash” the chicken

Obviously re-washing the chicken

 

Finally time to cook the chicken. For this dish we’ll be boiling the hell out of it with some oil, onions, salt and pepper.

Now it’s time to the infinite process of straining our palm

Now we strain

Now we repeated the straining process around 3 times until we got every bit of palm oil out

and this is the pulp left after our 5 rounds of straining

We finally get to the cooking!

At that point I was collapsed on the corner recovering from all that churning while my friend and Sarah cooked the delicious palm butter sauce. They thickened the pure palm over low heat for 45mins then you add the chicken then voila!

Dinner is served!  

Chicken with palm butter sauce and rice

Enjoying the final product

Now I leave you with some adorable cat pictures from Maggie Market!

“Smell No Taste”

“Smell No Taste” is the name of a famous Liberian village located between Roberts Intl. Airport and the infamous “Firestone” plantation. The village got its name because its residents were used to smelling the food and riches coming from Firestone, yet they never got to taste it.

Smell No Taste, Liberia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s sad to say most Liberians feel the same way about the “expat development world.” There are hundreds of NGOs in Liberia yet the locals remain cynical about the true motivations of all these “expats” having learned their lesson from the days of the “Firestone Republic.”

Last week I had a meeting with the team working on Liberia’s World Trade Organization (WTO) membership proposal. The team had just recieved their second sponsorship rejection from an International Ogranization. The rejection email included a recommendation that the Liberian government hire an “international consultant” to help with the proposal. This is how my Liberian coworker reacted “All these people want is to look for jobs for their friends. They just want us to train them and teach them then they go make a ton of money.”

This is a very serious accusation. It just goes to show you that Liberians today still believe they’re being dealt the “Smell, no taste” hand. Today Forbes published “World Bank Mired In Dysfunction: Mess Awaits New Head” about the dysfunction and corruption of the World Bank. These problem could  be generalized to most large International Organizations who lack objective supervision. This article couldn’t be more timely.

Something needs to change.

MOCI, Three weeks In

Work Update 

I started “week 2” by moving to the MSME (Micros, Small and Medium Enterprises) Division to sit in a big office with eight other people. It felt good to be part of a team. I met with the amazing division director Mrs. Edwina who asked me to help with the following projects :

• Finding a sponsor for the second season of “The Business Show,” which is a radio show intended to educate and inspire future Liberian entrepreneurs and small business owners.- Most of which are Liberian women in rural areas.
• Develop a project plan and implementation framework for mobile business registration for small businesses in rural areas. Currently there are only three business registries in Liberia which are located in Monrovia, Buchanan and Ganta.

Towards the end of the week, I got a messenger from the Minister inviting me to her office. It was a humbling moment. The Minister is an inspiring modest woman. She is trying to slowly yet steadily fix a broken organization from the top down with an air of quiet optimism. We discussed her priorites and where she believes I’ll be able to add the most value then I was moved to a new office right next door.

So, now I am working with the Research and Planning Division to help create a monitoring and evaluation framework in addition to my work with MSME.

So much work, so little time, yet I’m also trying to think of solutions to the “real problem” at the Ministry. If you’re curious what happened in week 1, click here.

Yellow Work Assignment Sheet

The Real Problem

I remember being upset that the Ministry was not very responsive to my emails before I got here. Now I know why.

Most communication here takes place by “messenger,” and by messenger I mean an actual person who goes between offices to deliver these “yellow work assignment sheets.”

There is a very real capacity problem in Liberia and by capacity, I mean the actual skills of the available work-force. All recommended solutions include high level concepts such as automation when the average worker has problems writing a grammatically correct sentence.

I spend several hours a day helping people write their reports/memos and work products and now, I am working on developing trainings for workers and budget templates for divisions.  It just  makes you think where would money be better spent? Low level trainings or high level consultants?

To truly develop Liberia, we need to develop its workforce. Coming here and doing the work for them and then leaving them to figure it out is naïve. I guess this is becoming a theme, development without maintenance is a disaster waiting to happen.

Spotlight on My Liberian Office Mates

I have come to love my Liberian co-workers, office mates and colleagues. It’s such a refreshing change from my current “Expat Bubble,” which I simply love to hate. I have come to learn Liberians are very friendly, generous, musical, life-loving and anything, BUT politically correct. Here are some of my anec-dotal moments at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry:

Only in Liberia

Day 2: I am working in the conference room I share with the assistant deputy minister when a random person walks in with a big suitcase. He greets the assistant deputy Minister then sits down, opens his bag and hands the assistant deputy three suit jackets to try on right there in the middle of the office. We decided two of them were too tight and one had overly short sleeves. ( I wish I had a picture, but oh well maybe next time)

Love Me Some Political Incorrectness

I moved to a new desk to share an office with eight other employees. One woman and seven men. The conversation goes as follows:

coworker1 across room “are you married? coworker2 across room: “why, are you thinking of proposing” coworker1: “maybe, we’ll see” Me intterupting :”no, not married”

Having a casual conversation while sitting at our desks

coworker1:”are you Christian? Me: “no” coworker2 :”so you can’t marry her after all” coworker1: “Stay out of it, I know she’s Muslim” then to me ” You know 30% of Liberia is Muslim. Do you practice? Do you drink?”

Generosity is Addictive

Comfort who is a research assistant at the Ministry insisted on buying me lunch my first two days at the Ministry and shared everything on her desk with me and called to check on me the one day I was sick.

The assitant minister insisted on taking me out to lunch at “Evelyn’s” the lunch hotspot for Ministry employees and called me over the weekend to make sure I wasn’t stuck bored at home.

Goat Soup and “Fried Eggplant” which also contained meat, chicken and fried fish

Almost every new Liberian I’ve met has offered to help show me around, take me to their gym, take me to the beach, and buy me lunch or coffee. I can definitely get used to this.

The Meeting and The Match

Last week we had a general Ministry administration meeting where representatives from all divisions gathered with the deputy minister of administration to discuss issues, plans and next year’s budget. Fifteen minutes into the meeting the conversation changed to the upcoming inter-ministerial tournament and the practice times and schedule for the Ministry of Commerce matches. We discussed the matches and their logistics for a full hour then ended the meeting.

Today the assistant to the Minister came to my office and handed me my own “MOCI” cheering T-shirt for tomorrow’s game where everyone will leave in Ministry buses at 2 pm to watch the game at the stadium at 4. Here’s a picture of my T-shirt! I’ll try to follow with pictures from the match.

Development without Maintenance is a Disaster Waiting to Happen…

Last Week I went on a tour of the “new” Liberia Standards Lab. I went with the new Deputy Ministry of Administration to meet the technical team and discuss their budget needs for the next fiscal year. This lab was built to monitor the quality standards of goods flowing in and out of Liberia.

This facility was sponsored by several International Organizations and cost several million dollars to build. The Standards Lab officially opened for business last year. Here are some pictures of the Standards Lab last week (less than a year after its grande opening.)

In my limited experience in development, I have seen the same story over and over again. The development world seems to be full of expensive equipment yet no warranties or manuals, medical supplies yet no proper storage, brand new facilities without quality checks and high level consulting recommendations without the capacity to implement them.

Something needs to change.

The Quest for an African Dress

Last week Joyi and me decided to embark on the quest of making a proper African dress. We decided to do it the traditional way.

First we went shopping for fabric. Fabric in Monrovia is referred to as “Lappa” which refers both to the fabric and the local unit of measurement. The patterns and colors were cheerful and fun. Blue was the darkest color available and I didn’t see a single solid fabric. This was very new for likes of me who shop at Gap and wear mostly black and navy.

 

 

Since  I’m not known for my haggling skills, I left that task to Joyi. We ended up buying  four lappas for US $12. Then, we walked around the corner to find a tailor.

 

And surprise surprise we found the “Liberian Forever 21.” The tailor shop where no one smiles, but where they will make your dress in less than 48 hours.

I picked one of their more modern styles and left myself to the assistant tailor for measuring. Right then and there I knew this will take several times to get right. But oh well, I am here for two months. FYI, Tailoring costs US $10 for each dress.

So here is the first attempt! It’s about 2 sizes too large, but we’re taking it back today. Will keep you posted.

Just for the record, this was our first venture without some sort of “Liberian escort” so I’m pretty sure these are touristy prices. This is a very realistic sample of the small businesses run by women in Monrovia.

MOCI, Eight Days Later

Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Monrovia

I don’t know where to begin. This is my fourth attempt at writing about my experience at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI). In this past week alone, I have been exposed to the “failures” of development, hereditary corruption, and the post conflict “capacity problem.”

I was first assigned to the “Research and Planning” division of the Ministry.

Day 1: I read the current working “Strategic Plan” and realized it was already one year behind. This gave me a very good sense of the effectiveness of the “Research and Planning Division.”

Days 2,3: I befriended the new Deputy Minister of Administration and joined his team. This worked out great because I got to tour most Ministry divisions and affiliates that I never would have accessed otherwise. We met with the heads of the personnel, procurement, finance, and trade departments then toured the brand new “One stop” Business Registry –where I was impressed to find they offer online business registration,- the “Standards Lab,” which is meant to monitor standards of all product imports and exports in Liberia.
– Wait for an entire blog post about the standards lab and the failure of maintenance in development.

Day 4: Reality check. The MOCI has about 267 employees, most of which only have high school diplomas and rarely show up to work. There is no system in place. There are no softcopies of all the IFC (or similar donor) sponsored assessments and reports. Most finance documentation is in the form of a paper trail and a single manually entered excel sheet at the office of the “comptroller.”

Day 5: I finally found a hardcopy of a full assessment that was done by a non-profit on the MOCI. I went to a meeting the head of the “CSA” or Civil Servants Agency to learn more about precedent in early retirement, rightsizing, and dealing with ghost employees.

Day 6: I am working on a Ministry restructuring plan that aggregates and prioritizes the recommendations of all the different “studies, reports, and assessments” that were sponsored over the years.

Da7: I’m struggling to meet my self-imposed deadline because I don’t want my plan to end up as another consulting “study, report, assessment” for next year’s intern to find.

Day 8: Still working on my plan, but I have also requested to join the Micro, small and medium enterprises division because I’ve decided the only way my plan can be realistic and not just fluff is to experience Ministry activities first hand.

Watch this space for week 2.

Long way to go

There seems to be no end in sight for the battle for a woman’s right to equal pay. Liberians look at the United States as a role model and a beacon for enlightenment, which makes news like this that much harder to stomach.

Monrovia’s Iron Lady

No, I’m not talking about “Ellen”. I’m talking about “Gerneal” Broh. I know I promised a post about work, but I couldn’t wait to introduce everyone to the  “Acting” Monrovia City Mayor: Mary Broh.

Mayor Broh was a senior executive at Marvel Entertainment in New York before entering into public service. She is known for her brutal honesty, swift actions and tireless perseverance. In less than three year Mayor Broh cleaned the city of Monrovia, making it one of the cleanest cities I’ve seen in Africa.

Mayor Broh hired hundreds of local women to clean up the streets throughout the day. These women were given florescent green shirts as uniforms and have successfully worked on changing the Liberian norms of littering and cleanliness. Mayor Broh’s project was so successful, it inspired the World Bank to sponsor a large scale City wide cleaning tender that was won by a company in Ghana at a very competitive price.

Madam Broh has not been confirmed by the Liberian senate because of the unpopularity of her New York attitude and what can only be referred to as her anti-diplomatic language, which have also inspired her other title “General Broh”.

In an interview with BET, Broh was quoted saying “I’m not brutal. I just want people to know that I’m trying to develop Monrovia into a clean, sanitary city. I let people know that if you don’t clean your place, I will fine you. If you keep doing it, I will make sure you go to the City Court and you can spend time going through the court system. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I’m Mary Broh — unscripted.”

After cleaning the city, Broh has begun demolishing makeshift structures, illegal buildings and unsanitary markets. Monrovia is lucky to have its current “acting” Mayor and all African “generals” can learn a thing or two from General Broh.

First Week in Monrovia

Finally made it to Monrovia  last Wednesday and it  feels like I’ve been transported to  a parallel universe. I’ll start by giving out general first impressions then follow with a blog about my first couple of days at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

First Impressions:

• Liberians are very friendly. Everyone greets you with a smile and some form of “Hi/Hello/etc” when they see you even if you’re just passing them on the stairs.
• Liberians think of Monrovia as the Liberian version of Washington DC. Both a colleague and a Ministry driver gave me tours of “The White House,” “The Supreme Court” and “The House of Congress.”
• Liberians seem to be extremely political. Everyone idolizes the President or “Ellen” and is fully aware of her program, closely following and monitoring the progress of her plan, and religiously listening to critical political talk shows on the radio. As a friend at the Ministry put it “Politics is the national pastime here.”
• Monrovia is occupied by hundreds of NGOs and “the Lebanese.”
• Liberian women are expected to work and simultaneously maintain their traditional gender role of cooking, cleaning, and child upbringing.
• Monrovia is a breathtaking unspoiled and underutilized view of the ocean. ( I’ll add pictures as soon as internet speed permits)